


I Can See it Coming

by TooFarForward



Category: Iron Man (Movies), MCU, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M, Scene Rewrite, but what if he didn't fall back through the portal?, tony stark is a BAMF!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 12:29:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7508305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooFarForward/pseuds/TooFarForward
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Tony Stark blinked into unconsciousness, his last thought was about why Loki had set himself up to fail. </p><p>or</p><p>A rewrite of the final battle, where Tony Stark does not return through the portal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can See it Coming

**Author's Note:**

> After rewatching the final battle scene for the 30th time, I think I managed to get all the important stuff down. At the moment, this is just a concept I'm working on, and while I have an idea of what I want to do with it, I don't have the sufficient time to make it happen.  
> In any case, here is a rewritten scene for you all to enjoy. Let me know if I you'd be interested in an expansion on this idea.  
> This is un-beta'd, so all mistakes are my own. (although it's been sitting in my computer for nearly a year and a half now).

There were too many; far too many.

The Avengers were only just keeping themselves upright, each one veritably outnumbered by the chittering creatures known as Chitauri. It really was looking bleak for the ragtag team of heroes, and Tony Stark personally didn’t think it could get much worse.

Of course, that’s when the call came through from Director Fury.

 _“Stark, you hearing me?”_ Tony knew it would be bad as soon as the other man said his name, it always is, but he wasn’t expecting what came next. _“We have a missile headed straight for the city.”_

Tony thought it over, going through all the possibilities quickly in his head. This was _not_ helpful, the opposite of helpful, in fact.

“How long?” He asked, hoping he’d have a fair amount of time to prepare himself–a group of the aliens had him surrounded, and were doing a considerable amount of damage to the suit and his power supply.

 _“Three minutes, at best.”_ The director informed him, adding that it would wipe out midtown. Tony, still fighting tooth and nail to _get up off the ground_ , knew that somebody had to stop it, and it was most probably going to have to be him. None of the other Avengers could fly, save for Thor, and he wasn’t close enough, nor connected to the comms.

“Jarvis, put everything we got into the thrusters.” He commanded, shooting the repulsor’s at the encroaching aliens around him. It did little good, but it was the best he was going to get.

 _“I just did.”_ And with that, the Iron Man took off, flinging the creature currently gripping his legs tightly onto the ground several feet below.

As the Avengers continued to fight for the upper hand, Tony located the missile. It was strange to think about, what he was about to do. Steve accused him not long ago of only fighting for himself. In some cases he was probably right, but maybe not this time.

Still not having caught up to the missile, Stark cursed as he heard agent Romanoff through the comms.

 _“I can close it. Can anybody copy”_ She sounded exhausted and hopeful all at once, and Tony made a mental note to make her some new weapons after this whole fiasco. Or treat her to that day spa Pepper’s always telling him about. _“I can shut the portal down.”_

 _“Do it!”_ Captain America ordered, sounding authoritative but just as worn out as the spy.

“No, wait!” Tony was probably pissing them all off, arguing that the portal stayed open longer, but when it’s a matter of not blowing up the Island of Manhattan, he figured it was pretty important.

 _“Stark these things are still coming.”_ The captain replied, and Tony relayed the information that Fury had obviously only given him. Figures the Director would only warn one of them.

“I’ve got a nuke coming in; it’s going to blow in less than a minute.” Jarvis scanned the bomb he was now finally catching up to.

“And I know just where to put it.” He tried for a self-assured tone, but to the rest of the members of the team, Tony sounded a little resigned. There was no other way, not that they had time for, and they all knew it. Once he was underneath the missile, he started to guide it towards its final destination.

 _“Stark… You know that’s a one way trip…”_ The captain said quietly. Tony was reading the data that spilled across his screens, and didn’t reply to the Captain. He didn’t need to be told what he was flying into; he knew the consequences.

“Save the rest for the turn, Jay.”

 _“Sir, shall I try Miss Potts?”_ Jarvis suggested, and Tony paused in his mental calculations, thoughts flicking to Pepper.

“Might as well.”  This is the part where Pepper was supposed to answer her cell and share heartfelt words with him, begging him to just make it back, to just _survive_. It didn’t happen, but Tony tried not to feel disappointed. At least he knew she was safe, on her flight to DC.

He flew past Steve and Thor on his way to the portal, but despite the battle going on around him, everything seemed quiet, almost peacefully so. This hadn’t really gone the way he’d planned. Where was Loki, anyway? Smug bastard that threw him out of one of _his own_ windows; he was probably laughing at the top of _Tony’s_ tower over how he was winning. Well, wonder how he’d take it when his little portal was destroyed and his army vaporized by a nuclear warhead.

Tony started turning upwards, using as much of the suits power as he could to get the appropriate angle. He just hoped it’d be enough. That he’d calculated right.

Pepper still hadn’t answered, but that didn’t really matter anymore. It was too late.

Brushing against the side of his tower, he flew the bomb into the glowing blue portal the aliens had been pouring out of. The image that greeted him on the other side of the portal startled him in no small measure; maybe he’d overestimated the God of mischief… or underestimated?

As the suit lost power and Jarvis’ voice became a weak crackle, Tony tried very hard not to think about his teammates, his company… Pepper.

It was no use. He let go of the missile and watched as it flew towards the mother of all ships and, hell, if he made it back to earth he’d have some serious questions for their resident Godly psychopath, as well as some serious nightmares.

He closed his eyes as the blast radiated around him, pushing him backwards. Maybe he’d fall back through the portal, if he was lucky enough.

Maybe he’d make it home.

 

All around them the Chitauri foot soldiers started to fall, the giant leviathan-like creatures staggering through the air as they too dropped. They’d done it. Tony had done it.

They waited for him to come back through the portal with baited breath. Because he’s Tony Stark, and he made it out of a cave in Afghanistan, he’d surely make it out of a hole in space. Right?

“Come on Stark.” Natasha whispered, holding the sceptre to the Tesseract. They all watched from their various vantage points as the glow from the explosion started to make its way towards the portal. No sign of Stark, and they couldn’t leave it open much longer.

The Captain looked at Thor, and then back up to the portal, commanding quietly, “Close it,” and Natasha, taking one last look at the portal, pushed the sceptre into the glowing cube, effectively turning off the power.

As the portal slowly closed the team watched in silence, waiting for their teammate to make a last minute appearance, dropping through the clouds and cheering at his own success. There was nothing, though; not even a crackle from Tony’s comm. Steve put his head down as the hole in the sky finally mended itself, and felt himself deflate. They’d won the battle, but it cost them one of their own.

“Is anybody hurt badly?” The captain asked, voice quiet, but firm. There were muttered negatives, though it was obvious everybody was feeling a little shaken. “Good, we have a villain to apprehend.”

 


End file.
